Message From the AIAO EVP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIA Oregon Executive Vice President/CEO

More Than Just Meetings

In just a few weeks, there will be a call for applications to the AIA Oregon Board of Directors, and I am looking forward to hearing from members interested in joining this dynamic group. The AIA Oregon Board of Directors is a vibrant, active group of professionals from around the state, in all levels of their career, coming together to accomplish the strategic goals of the membership.

While that is a neat summation, it still doesn’t tell you all you can expect as a member of the AIA Orgon Board of Directors. Our board members are tasked with achieving long term goals, fiduciary responsibility, and future viability for the chapter and for the profession. Serving a term (or two!) on our board will leave you more knowledgeable about the Oregon Legislature, laws that affect practice locally and nationally, and how you can make an impact. You’ll have direct influence over the protection of professional practice, and you can take that voice all the way with us to Capitol Hill in DC for Leadership Summit, an activity we support our Board of Directors to attend.

By working with your Board class, you will develop relationships that will extend beyond the table, and you’ll have the opportunity to sharpen communication skills, listening skills, and leadership skills.

Don’t think you’re qualified? Don’t know if you’re the type of member who would be a good Board member? If you’re a member, you’re qualified. Bring your experiences, insights, and concerns exactly as they are to the table for discussion. Are you a great manager of tough conversations? A master detangler of interconnected issues? A provider of safe spaces for creativity? You’re more than qualified. Don’t think you’re any of those things yet? You can be if you join.

For example, this week, President Kaley Fought, AIA had the opportunity to testify before the Oregon Legislature in support of clean air, water and energy bills we have been working on for at least a year and a half through dedicated volunteer efforts. While it was just a few minutes of time in the scheme of things, she left an impression with the committee members of organizational unity and represented the full professional body of licensed practitioners when she spoke. This is the last benefit of being a Board Member – accessing and having the tools to maximize the agency of your voice.

I hope that this year, when you see the call for applications, you give it serious consideration and reach out to me or other Board members to connect and learn more. This will be an exciting few years to be a Board member – there are lots of key decisions to be made in the next 2-4 years. Along with the ongoing work to consider the future of AIA Oregon headquarters, we’re also going to be planning ODC24, creating a new diversity scholarship for the state, and refreshing our strategic plan.

I hope that you’ll consider bringing your unique self and skills to the table. You may be exactly the voice we need.

AIAO President Kaley Fought (left) testifies, along with Merideth Connolly of Climate Solutions and Alex Boetzel of EarthAdvantage, before the Oregon State Legislature, May 2023.

Message from the Chair of the Committee on the Environment (COTE)

Elisa Rocha, AIA
Chair, Committee on the Environment (COTE)

On the heels of Earth Day, we acknowledge and celebrate the efforts of everyone who participated in acts of volunteerism, education, conservation, advocacy, and design intervention. The AIA Oregon Committee on the Environment (COTE) recognizes our collective responsibility to maintain that momentum and build on those efforts to protect and positively impact the environment and our community. As a local affiliate of the American Institute of Architects COTE Knowledge Community, AIA Oregon COTE supports AIA National COTE’s mission to work “for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.” 

In support of this mission, AIAO COTE is focused on addressing issues of great importance in Oregon: energy use reduction, operational and embodied carbon reduction, climate justice and equity, health and well-being, and resiliency in response to extreme heat events and wildfires. We are committed to educating professionals and the public on these issues, and we do so by collaborating with sustainable design practitioners and allied professionals to provide educational programming through our AIA Digital Design Series presentations and through the annual Green Champion Summit, which takes place during Sustainable Building Week in October. We share resources and learning opportunities from COTE Network leaders across the country to help architects transform their practices for climate action and climate justice. And we contributed to the incorporation of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence principles into the design criteria for AIA Oregon Design Awards submissions.

AIAO COTE is open to architects and allied professionals, and we welcome everyone who is interested in participating in our efforts. We also invite all AIA 2030 signatory firms in Oregon to attend our monthly meetings, share their experiences, and assist us with developing educational opportunities to lift up all design professionals and give them the tools they need to take on that challenge.

We meet on the third Thursday of each month, and our meetings are a forum for open discussion about sustainable project work, initiatives, strategies, challenges, solutions, and advocacy. Our intention is to bring the community together to share, inspire, and cross-pollinate so we can learn from each other and strengthen our collective abilities to address climate change.

We hope to see you at our next meeting, and we invite you to attend the next Digital Design Series event on May 10th, which will feature the Oregon Design Awards 2030 Winner: the Oregon Treasury Administrative Office Building. It has been distinguished as the highest-rated USRC Platinum building in Oregon and the first USRC base-isolated structure in the United States. This DDS event will be a unique and important learning opportunity for all of us.

Thank you,

Elisa Rocha

Message from the AIAO Executive VP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIAO EVP/CEO

“New and stirring things are belittled because if they are not belittled the humiliating question arises 'Why then are you not taking part in them?”

― H.G. Wells

The work of the AIA Oregon Headquarters task Force (HQTF) over the last quarter, presented in this weeks’ T@3, gives every member the opportunity to review and respond to the feedback they’ve started to interpret into recommendations for a path forward. In these next two online opportunities for feedback, April 27 and May 4, those who participate (hopefully you!) will receive information and ample chance to share any thoughts we may have missed.

Along with the Task Force members and our Board of Directors, I’ve listened to member feedback regarding the future of the AIA Oregon Headquarters. They were dedicated to reviewing the feedback in a thorough and timely fashion. Thank you to the 200+ members that have helped shape the conversation so far.

And now we’re hoping to hear from the rest of you!

I know everyone can’t be involved to the same degree, but we are going to try to offer as many opportunities as possible in different settings and formats over the next few months to hear from every member. With ackowledgment to the 200+ members who responded to the survey, that means roughly 1100 members were silent.

Over the next few months of spring and summer, AIA Oregon HQTF members and I will attend summer Section picnics, Third Thursday events and Emerging Professionals and Fellows events with on-site opportunities for sharing your thoughts and helping refine the conversation. You’ll see articles in the T@3 and perhaps some targeted email messages that ask for your feedback as a Section member or Committee member. And please remember the email we have dedicated to this string of conversation: info@ournewhq.com. You can send your thoughts and questions at any time.

My hope is that the full membership of AIA Oregon will be well served with whatever solution the HQTF recommends, and the Board ultimately approves; but what I know for sure is that the solution will serve those who have participated best.

Looking forward to hearing from you,